The Outsiders
The Outsiders was a FOX network drama series developed by S.E. Hinton, Joe Byrne and Jeb Rosebrook based on S.E. Hinton's 1967 novel of the same name. The show aired from March 25 to July 22, 1990, lasting for one season & 13 episodes. It was produced by Zoetrope Studios and Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment. Plot The series tells the story of the Curtis brothers: 14-year-old Ponyboy, 16-year-old Sodapop, and 20-year-old Darry. After their parents are killed in a car crash, the three brothers struggle to stay together. Along with their friends and fellow “greasers,” they often come into conflict with the rich kids (or “Socs”) in town. Cast *Jay R. Ferguson as Ponyboy Curtis *Rodney Harvey as Sodapop Curtis *Boyd Kestner as Darrel "Darry" Curtis *Harold Pruett as Steve Randle *David Arquette as Keith "Two-Bit" Matthews *Robert Rusler as Tim Shepherd *Kim Walker as Sherri "Cherry" Valance *Heather McComb as Belinda "Scout" Jenkins *Sean Kanan as Gregg Parker *Scott Coffey as Randy Anderson *Billy Bob Thornton as Buck Merrill *Jennifer McComb as Marcia Production On March 6th, 1989, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that a sequel to "The Outsiders" was in the works. Francis Ford Coppola would co-executive produce a two-hour made-for-TV movie to air on FOX. S.E. Hinton would write the script while Alan Shapiro would direct According to the Houston Chronicle, FOX was considering a weekly series, potentially to premiere in September 1989 when FOX expanded to Monday nights. Reportedly, ABC, CBS, and NBC all turned down a TV series based on the novel and movie. The movie’s popularity on home video helped sell the concept and FOX expressed interest. According to co-executive producer Joe Byrne, "They were very youth-oriented, new kids on the block, and were aggressive and wanted to do something different. We had a very nice situation. We had a book that was very successful, a movie that had a lot of big-name actors that came out of it, and then we had the cassette." In early May, FOX was considering 13 pilots for use on Monday nights, including the television version of The Outsiders." Later that month, the network released its 1989-1990 schedule and the pilot was not given a slot on Mondays. Instead, the series would be held in reserve for use as a mid-season replacement In August, The Los Angeles Times reported that FOX had ordered six episodes of the series. In January of 1990, FOX announced its plan to expand to Wednesday and Friday nights and one possible Friday-night entry was "The Outsiders." However, in early March, Fox revealed that it was making some spring changes to its 1989-1990 schedule. "The Outsiders" was given the Sunday 7:00 to 8:00 PM time slot. It would premiere with a special 90-minute episode on March 25th, airing from 9:30-11:00 PM, and then move to its regular time slot on April 1st. According to Peter Chernin, president of FOX Entertainment Group, the show would be "distinctive, emotional, fun and an affirmation of family values. It captures the nostalgic value of what growing up was like in the ’60s." S.E. Hinton, Joe Byrne and Jeb Rosebrook developed the TV series. Zoetrope Studios produced in association with Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment. Ultimately, Hinton did not write the pilot episode. Instead, Alan Shapiro penned the pilot script. Shapiro served as director alongside Sharron Miller, but Hinton did serve as executive story consultant. FOX later gave the series a 13-episode order. Casting The producers of "The Outsiders" auditioned some 2,500 actors before settling on on a group of relative unknowns. Co-executive producer Joe Byrne explained, “you wanted them to have an edge and be a little different looking. We also wanted them to be attractive in their own right." Jay R. Ferguson won the lead role of Ponyboy Curtis. Like the rest of the young cast, Ferguson made a splash in teen magazines. Rodney Harvey and Boyd Kestner would play Ponyboy’s older brothers, Sodapop and Darry. Their friends Steve Randle and Two-Bit Matthews would be played by Harold P. Pruett and David Arquette. Tim Shepard, the roughest of the Greasers, would be played by Robert Rusler. Buck Merrill, the owner of the bar/service station where Sodapop worked, would be played by Billy Bob Thornton. Rounding out the main cast were Kim Walker as Cherry Valance, a Soc who went to high school with Ponyboy and was friendly with him, and Heather McComb as a young Greaser named Scout, a new character created for the television series. Scott Coffeey, Jennifer McComb and Sean Kanan would appear occasionally as Socs Randy, Marcia and Greg. Ratings The special 90-minute premiere of "The Outsiders" made its debut on March 25, 1990, averaging an 11.1/18 in the preliminary overnight Nielsen ratings, making it the highest-rated dramatic show in the history of the FOX network. Nationally, the debut averaged a 9.3/16 rating. 14.1 million viewers tuned in. It ranked fourth in its time slot and tied for 64th for the week (out of 81 shows) and lost exactly half the viewers who watched "Married with Children" from 9-9:30PM. The following week, in its regular 7-8PM time slot opposite 60 Minutes on CBS and without the benefit of a strong lead-in, "The Outsiders" could only manage a 5.0/10 Nielsen rating and 7.5 million viewers and ranked 81st for the week out of 85 shows. The third episode of "The Outsiders" sank even lower, averaging a 4.7/8 rating and ranking 83rd, ahead of only "The Tracey Ullman Show." The show's fourth episode actually ranked dead last for the week with a 4.3/9 rating and the series remained in the bottom five for its entire run. Cancellation As a mid-season replacement, all 13 episodes of "The Outsiders" were finished months before the series debuted, forcing the cast to wait and hope that FOX would renew the series for the 1990-1991 season. The solid ratings for the show's premiere episode were a positive sign, but the ratings for the episodes that followed were not. FOX pre-empted the series on May 20th and aired a repeat on May 27th. A few days later, the network announced its 1990-1991 schedule. The Outsiders was one of five shows being cancelled; at the time, only eight episodes had aired. FOX broadcast another three episodes during June; the last two aired in July, with the 13th and final episode broadcast on July 22nd. The repeats continued through the end of August. Reception Robert P. Laurence of The San Diego Union called the series “another example of the Fox network’s willingness to take chances on unconventional stories told in unconventional ways.” He wrote that it was “refreshing to see a television drama about young people in which the protagonists are doing something besides drugs, in which their concerns run deeper than clothes and dates.” However, Laurence also criticized the premiere’s “cardboard characters, excessive violence and an episodic, disjointed story line”, but suggested the series held promise and “could get terrific." Ed Siegel of The Boston Globe felt that "The Outsiders" was right at home on FOX, suggesting the network was the first “that seeks thematic unity from program to program, each of which could probably be called ‘The Outsiders’.” He also wrote that the series “lets its characters breathe somewhat less predictable air than the three networks would. Individual greaser types — those on ‘The Outsiders,’ Johnny Depp in ’21 Jump Street’ and Richard Grieko in ‘Booker’ — don’t have to be as emblematic of mainstream values as most of their network cousins." John J. O'Connor wrote in a review for The New York Times: “More than anything else, this is a class war, and after a decade of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, Fox’s explorations of the traditional divisions adds up to shrewd audience targeting. The poor guys are the heroes, of course. There are more of them out there watching television." Matt Roush of USA Today suggested “if you can get past the glorified and tiresome rumbles and taunts between the low-class ‘greasers’ and their rich-kid rivals – the ‘socs,’ pronounced ‘sosh-es,’ a tribe of mostly blond pompadours – there’s a sweet family drama being enacted by some unschooled heartthrobs-to-be." Howard Rosenberg of The Los Angeles Time wrote “although the characters are too inconsistent to be entirely believable and often act too inanely to be respected, there are enough nice moments here to lift ‘The Outsiders’ above the ordinary and give it promise." Noel Holston of The Star Tribune called "The Outsiders" “a hit series waiting to happen” but worried that “in trying to pander to the prejudices of teens from the lower socioeconomic level, the producers come closer to patronizing them.” He felt it needed “more shading and complexity to be a leader of the pack." Category:FOX Shows Category:1990s television shows Category:Drama